TANYA MILLETTE BECOMES SECOND FEMALE FRONTIER LEAGUE UMPIRE
The Quebec Capitales beat the New York Boulders 8-4 on Friday, and 8-7 on Saturday but that wasn't what was special about those games. Tanya Millette becomes the second woman to umpire to a Frontier League game and first Quebec woman to work a professional game with working third base on Friday and then working first base on Saturday.
Tosha Winters was the first woman to umpire a Frontier League game in 1999 in London, Ontario.
Millete was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. Millette's 25 years old and has been a policeman since February 2022.
Millette has been umpiring since the age of 13. She started out as a hockey referee but was asked to try baseball. She worked her first provincial tournament in 2013, where she became very passionate about umpiring. She had a lot of fun doing it and decided to work very hard to get to the highest level possible.
In 2015, she worked 18U (AA) provincial championships and was recommended for Midget AAA, Junior Majeur and Senior Majeur. Between 2015-2019, Millette also worked several Canadian championships including 13U, 15U , 16U and 21U.
In 2019, she was invited to go to the MLB extended camp in Florida where she had a very good evaluation.
In 2022, she received a grant from the MLB to go to Wendelstedt Professional School of Umpiring but could not attend due to Visa problems. Later on, they decided to send her directly to the MLB advance course in Florida.
Millette was the first women to work in Junior and Senior Majeur games and first women to work in a professional preseason game working an exhibition game for Trois-Rivières on May 5th.
She continued to stay in touch with her recruiter Yves Lamontagne who was a Frontier League and professional umpire since 2000.
Then on July 8th, 2022, Millette became the first Quebec woman ever, to work in a professional baseball game.
"We are proud to have Tanya Millette as part of our umpiring staff last weekend. Tanya worked an exhibition game in Trois-Rivières this spring and received good reviews from both teams along with her fellow umpires," said Deputy Commissioner Steve Tahsler.
Tahsler added, "It is always exciting when someone makes their professional debut, be it a player, a coach, or umpire. Tanya is a great ambassador for baseball and a quality official.
